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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
is the theory of interactionism. According to this view, the bodily and the mental states affect each other. There is interaction between each other. For instance, physical ailments like the stomach ache and other ailments do affect the mental states like the cognitive ability the emotional upset and the conative urge. Ill health does affect the mental energy adversely, while health will bring wholesome effect on mental life. For instance, particular type of food and drink would bring about mental states due to the toxic effects. Memory capacity can be improved by certain types of food. Injury to a particular part of the brain-cells would impair the power of memory. Similarly, if the certain parts of the brain-cells are adversely affected, there would be impairment to the mental energy. 13
EFFECT OF THINKING ON THE MIND
Body and mind are intimately related to each other. They interact on each other. Cognitive, affective and conative activity do affect the bodily condition. Vigorous process of thinking brings about bodily fatigue. Emotions do create certain metabolic changes
in the body like, secretion of glucose in the blood, coagulation of the blood and other chemical effects. The bodily and mental energy affect each other. The body and the mind are two qualitatively different substances. Still they influence each other. How this interaction is possible has been a difficult problem to solve.
THE RELATION BETWEEN THE ATMAN AND THE BODY The Atman and the body are different substances. One is a spiritual substance, while the body belongs to the material realm. Atman is the psychic energy (Cetana), it is formless. Body is meterial, it is unconscious. It has form. Then problem is how the two diffeJainism tried to solve this rent principles interact on each other. problem of interaction between two qualitatively different principles by means of the concept of the gross (badara) and subtle (sükşma) body (sarīra). Every soul in this samsara is encased in the gross and subtle bodies. At the time of death, gross body is left here and the subtle body continues to be encrusted with the soul. When the soul enters the next birth it carries the subtle body with it. It enters another gross body with the subtle body. The subtle body is constantly being formed, like the snow-ball which adds particles of snow on its downward journey. The relation between the soul and the subtle body could be considered to be beginningless. It is always with the
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